Chapter 35: Unmasking the Conspiracy

She leapt, kicked the man in the head, then smashed a fist into another's face! A sliding sweep tripped two people, she grabbed a wooden stick from the ground and struck twice!

In the blink of an eye, four people were already on the ground wailing.

Her movements were agile, targeting soft spots—knees, thighs, abdomen, ribs… continuous wails rose, mixed with the sound of bones snapping! Amid the chaos, she was like a lithe cheetah, and wherever she passed, people kept falling.

Gradually, the others also noticed the oddity here.

She singled out those who fought fiercely, her wrists brutal; anyone she struck ended up with either a broken leg or a broken arm.

Soon, the fighting sounds ceased.

"Y‑you are what kind of person? Are you crazy to strike so viciously?"

A sharp yet timid voice came, and Shen Qingquan turned and suddenly walked toward him.

The man, frightened, stepped back a few paces, "What do you want to do?"

Shen Qingquan weighed the wooden stick in her hand, and the next second, to everyone's stunned amazement, she slammed it hard against his leg!

"Ah—!"

A harrowing scream echoed through the air, and everyone inhaled a gasp of cold.

No one expected her to strike out of the blue! And in this manner!

The man fell to the ground, wailing in pain; that cry finally halted the chaos.

Shen Qingquan's cold eyes swept the surroundings, "If anyone dares move again, this will be your fate."

An invisible deterrence spread throughout the area.

The woman's move was excessively brutal, using the harshest method to shatter the troublemaker's bones. This terrified everyone.

The scene turned into a suffocating, deathly silence.

Until Ding Shu's panicked voice came, "Shen, Miss Shen, you can't! They are just ordinary refugees; they only acted like this out of extreme panic…"

"Ordinary refugees?"

Shen Qingquan let out a snort of laughter, planted a foot on the wailing man's face, and slowly but forcefully ground it.

"You all, did you see clearly?"

Just as Ding Shu was confused, a sudden exclamation came from beside him, "His face!"

The crowd looked, and saw the fallen man's face, which had been covered in red spots, gradually disappearing!

"His rash… was fake?!"

It turned out the rash on his face was painted with some unknown pigment!

And Shen Qingquan's foot was pressing his face into the gutter, grinding his disguise into a mess!

"He pretended to be infected with plague on purpose?"

At this moment, someone finally realized!

Ding Shu's complexion darkened further!

He stared intently at the man, his thoughts unknown.

At this time, a few people in the crowd were silently stepping back, but as soon as they moved, a Cold Beam shot out, piercing one person's leg!

"Ah!"

"Trying to run?"

Shen Qingquan withdrew her hand, then drew a dagger from behind, gesturing at the two trembling others, "You want to try as well?"

The two swallowed saliva and pounded their knees onto the ground!

"Female Knight, spare us! Female Knight, please spare us!"

"Who sent you?"

Her slender fingers toyed with the dagger, her voice casual yet laden with invisible pressure.

The two broke out in cold sweat, "No—no one…"

"I'll ask again: who sent you?"

Though she seemed like a celestial maiden, to the two she now resembled a Soul-Claiming Asura.

Ding Tai rushed forward, grabbed them, and delivered a fierce punch!

"Speak! If you don't, I'll kill you!"

"I say! I say! It was… it was Lord Xue who sent us!"

"What!"

One stone sparked a thousand ripples!

Everyone present gasped in a chorus!

"Xue Gui? Are you people of that Corrupt Official?"

Ding Shu, his face furious, stepped forward, and the two hurriedly kowtowed, "Yes, we entered here by Lord Xue's orders!"

Ding Tai suddenly recalled that these people seemed to be the refugees they had taken in a few days earlier!

Because a sudden flood struck, many incoming refugees poured into the city, so these past two days,

Denggu Alley indeed received many people. Who would have thought Xue Gui's men would also slip in!

"What does he want you to do?"

The man stammered, and Ding Tai punched him again!

He clutched his head and said, "Lord Xue ordered us to relay the situation here, and also to find a way to stir up chaos…"

Shen Qingquan's gaze swept the surroundings, and in an instant she locked onto several people.

"Ding Tai."

She called out to Ding Tai; he looked over, and she nodded at those few.

"And them."

Ding Tai said nothing, rushed forward with his brothers, and dragged the struggling people out of the crowd!

"Spare us! Spare us!"

Those people were not the sick, but they had been the most violent earlier.

Ding Tai recalled that those were exactly the people who had incited the crowd to fight earlier, and the one who spread the plague was also among them!

Uncle Ding stepped forward and pressed the two, asking, "Are they your accomplices?"

At this point, there was nothing left to hide.

"Yes, yes, we are all Xue Gui's men. Our leader discovered that a plague had infected this place, reported it to Xue Gui, and Xue Gui ordered us to disguise ourselves as patients and ordinary refugees, to spread the plague and cause chaos…"

With each sentence he spoke, Uncle Ding's face grew a shade more ashen!

What a despicable, shameless Xue Gui!

He deliberately let people sneak in to spark conflict, so that both sides would be crippled, and Xue Gui could clean them up without lifting a finger!

He said that the Corrupt Official had been silent these past few days, and it turned out he was brewing this nasty scheme!

"Damned Xue Gui!"

He gritted his teeth; at that moment, the others also realized and began cursing the Corrupt Official!

The leader they mentioned, the person standing beneath Shen Qingquan, raged at them, "Even if you know, so what? You lowborn scum will eventually be dealt with by the authorities!"

"Shut up, you worthless brat!"

Ding Tai threw another punch, knocking him out, had his brothers bind all those people, then approached Shen Qingquan and asked, "Miss Shen, how did you discover they were frauds?"

"Their lower stance is solid; clearly they are martial practitioners. Their voices are strong—not like famished refugees or patients. Moreover, they deliberately incited trouble, and their faces bore a coarse disguise…"

Ding Tai was enlightened, and, admiringly, gave her a thumbs‑up, "Miss, you're impressive!"

"Miss Shen, I'm sorry; I wrongly accused you earlier."

Uncle Ding stepped forward and sincerely apologized; he never expected a traitor had infiltrated among them, nearly causing a misunderstanding about her.

Now, looking back, only by acting as she just did could one immediately intimidate the crowd, quell the unrest, make those villains fearful, and force them to reveal the truth.

He couldn't help but reflect: in such a short time she had uncovered so many clues—was she truly just an ordinary refugee?? This novel first appeared on 17K Novel Network; see the official content promptly!